Giving Connecticut's 51,000 employees the option to pay transit costs with pre-tax income would offer a big boost to "Deduct-a-Ride" that the Stamford-based transportation management association MetroPool kicked-off in Fall, 1999. The TMA reports that the concept has been positively received by the many companies, but Pitney Bowes Credit, with 130 CT-based employees, seems to be one of the largest employers offering the benefit.

A spokesman confirmed this week that Governor Rowland is committed to creating a Deduct-A-Ride program for state employees, though his administration is trying to determine whether authorizing legislation or negotiations with unions will be necessary. Transit riding employees could save up to $300 per year, and, if administrative costs are kept low, the state will pay less in Federal taxes for every employee enrolled.

If it moves swiftly to implement Rowland's goal, CT could become the first state to offer the Federal transit benefit to its employees. President Clinton issued an executive order in April requiring all Federal agencies to provide the pre-tax transit option to their Washington, D.C. region workforces by the beginning of this month (and to several agency workforces country-wide) and New York City began offering the benefit to City employees this summer (MTR #267, #262). But no state has yet taken up the challenge (Also in our region, Westchester County offers TransitChek benefits to its public employees). Legislation that would allow the benefit to be offered to New Jersey's 76,000 state employees have been stalled since spring in the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees.